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Senate Concurrent Resolution 7
118th Congress(2023-2024)
A concurrent resolution condemning Russia's unjust and arbitrary detention of Russian opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza who has stood up in defense of democracy, the rule of law, and free and fair elections in Russia.
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Passed Senate on Nov 2, 2023
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S. CON. RES. 7 (Reported-in-Senate)

Calendar No. 52

118th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. CON. RES. 7

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

March 23, 2023

Mr. Cardin (for himself, Mr. Wicker, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Markey, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Coons, Mr. Hickenlooper, and Mr. Menendez) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

May 4, 2023

Reported by Mr. Menendez, with an amendment and an amendment to the preamble

[Strike out all after the resolving clause and insert the part printed in italic]

[Strike the preamble and insert the part printed in italic]

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Condemning Russia’s unjust and arbitrary detention of Russian opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza who has stood up in defense of democracy, the rule of law, and free and fair elections in Russia.

    Whereas, on April 11, 2022, Vladimir Kara-Murza was unjustly detained by Russian authorities for spreading supposedly “false information” in a speech in March 2022 to the Arizona House of Representatives;

    Whereas Mr. Kara-Murza in his March 15, 2022, speech presented a defiant condemnation of Vladimir Putin’s policies and leadership outlining his corruption and malign intentions, and condemning the illegal war of aggression Putin has unleashed against Ukraine;

    Whereas, prior to his arrest in April 2022, Mr. Kara-Murza was poisoned twice by agents of the Russian Government and the Russian Federation in 2015 and 2017 with a military-grade agent banned internationally, likely in retaliation for his defiant stance in support of rule of law and democracy in Russia;

    Whereas, despite having survived two assassination attempts and the subsequent side effects of these poisonings, Mr. Kara-Murza regularly returned to Russia to advocate for democratic representation in Russia;

    Whereas Mr. Kara-Murza has consistently advocated for democracy in Russia and insisted that democracy in Russia must be advanced by Russians for all those living in Russia;

    Whereas, in August 2022, new charges were brought against Mr. Kara-Murza for “carrying out the activities” of an “undesirable foreign organization” and his arrest was extended for his work as a leading member of Russian civil society;

    Whereas, in October 2022, Mr. Kara-Murza was further charged unjustly with “high treason” in part due to his public condemnations of the Kremlin’s military aggression on Ukraine and domestic repressions;

    Whereas Mr. Kara-Murza remains in pretrial detention and faces a prison sentence of up to 24 years on high treason and other charges;

    Whereas the state of Mr. Kara-Murza’s health has deteriorated and in addition to losing over 45 pounds, he was diagnosed with polyneuropathy, a condition that under Russian law should preclude him from his current detainment;

    Whereas, as a result of his diagnosis, he has lost feeling in both his feet and has experienced symptoms similar to those he experienced following his 2015 poisoning due to peripheral nerve damage;

    Whereas section 5599F of the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (Public Law 117–263) condemned Mr. Kara-Murza’s unjust detention, expressed solidarity with Mr. Kara-Murza, his family, and all individuals imprisoned in Russia for their beliefs, and urged the United States and other ally governments to work to secure the release of Mr. Kara-Murza and other citizens of the Russian Federation imprisoned for opposition to Vladimir Putin’s regime and his illegal war in Ukraine;

    Whereas, in April 2022, Vladimir Kara-Murza was presented the McCain Institute’s Courage and Leadership Award for his unwavering commitment to fundamental values and his acts of selfless courage which have inspired the world;

    Whereas, in October 2022, Mr. Kara-Murza was awarded the Vaclav Havel Prize honoring outstanding civil society action in defense of human rights;

    Whereas the late Senator John McCain said Mr. Kara-Murza “is a brave, outspoken, and relentless advocate for freedom and democracy in Russia” and introduced Mr. Kara-Murza as “a personal hero whose courage, selflessness, and idealism I find awe-inspiring”;

    Whereas, in March 2023, the Department of the Treasury and the Department of State imposed Global Magnitsky and other targeted sanctions on six Russians involved in Mr. Kara-Murza’s ongoing arbitrary detention, recognized his role as “a major advocate for the adoption of Magnitsky-style sanctions authorities by the United States, Canada, European Union, and United Kingdom to target human rights abusers and corrupt actors in Russia”, and called for his immediate release; and

    Whereas Mr. Kara-Murza remains a political prisoner and a victim of Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian state: Now, therefore, be it

    Whereas, on April 11, 2022, Vladimir Kara-Murza was unjustly detained by Russian authorities for spreading supposedly “false information” in a speech in March 2022 to the Arizona House of Representatives;

    Whereas, on February 24, 2022, Vladimir Putin launched another unprovoked, unjustified, and illegal invasion into Ukraine in contravention of the obligations freely undertaken by the Russian Federation to respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine under the Budapest Memorandum of 1994, the Minsk protocols of 2014 and 2015, and international law;

    Whereas, since February 24, 2022, Mr. Kara-Murza has used his voice and platform to join more than 15,000 citizens of the Russian Federation in peacefully protesting the war against Ukraine and millions more who silently oppose the war;

    Whereas, on March 5, 2022, Vladimir Putin signed a law criminalizing the distribution of truthful statements about the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation and mandating up to 15 years in prison for such offenses;

    Whereas Mr. Kara-Murza, in his March 15, 2022, speech presented a defiant condemnation of Vladimir Putin’s policies and leadership outlining his corruption and malign intentions, and condemning the illegal war of aggression Putin has unleashed against Ukraine;

    Whereas, prior to his arrest in April 2022, Mr. Kara-Murza was poisoned twice by agents of the Russian government and the Russian Federation in 2015 and 2017 with a military-grade agent banned internationally, likely in retaliation for his defiant stance in support of rule of law and democracy in Russia;

    Whereas, despite having survived two assassination attempts and the subsequent side effects of these poisonings, Mr. Kara-Murza regularly returned to Russia to advocate for democratic representation in Russia;

    Whereas independent investigations conducted by Bellingcat, the Insider, and Der Spiegel found that the same unit of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation responsible for poisoning Mr. Kara-Murza was also responsible for poisoning Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and activists Timur Kuashev, Ruslan Magomedragimov, and Nikita Isayev;

    Whereas Mr. Kara-Murza has consistently advocated for democracy in Russia and insisted that democracy in Russia must be advanced by Russians for all those living in Russia;

    Whereas, on May 26, 2022, the United States Senate unanimously agreed to Senate Resolution 632 (117th Congress) calling for the immediate release of Mr. Kara-Murza, Alexei Navalny, and other citizens of the Russian Federation imprisoned for opposing the regime of Vladimir Putin and the war against Ukraine;

    Whereas, on July 27, 2022, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation charged Mr. Kara-Murza for his engagements with Free Russia Foundation and Open Russia, both of which are nongovernmental organizations targeted by the law of the Russian Federation on undesirable organizations;

    Whereas, in August 2022, new charges were brought against Mr. Kara-Murza for “carrying out the activities” of an “undesirable foreign organization” and his arrest was extended for his work as a leading member of Russian civil society;

    Whereas, in October 2022, Mr. Kara-Murza was further charged unjustly with “high treason” due to his public condemnations of the Kremlin’s military aggression on Ukraine and domestic repressions;

    Whereas, on April 17, 2023, Mr. Kara-Murza was sentenced to 25 years in prison, one of the highest sentences given to any Russian opposition figure;

    Whereas, since Mr. Kara-Murza's arrest, the state of his health has deteriorated and in addition to losing over 45 pounds, he was diagnosed with polyneuropathy, a condition that under Russian law, should preclude him from incarceration;

    Whereas, as a result of his diagnosis, he has lost feeling in both his feet and has experienced symptoms similar to those he experienced following his 2015 poisoning due to peripheral nerve damage;

    Whereas section 5599F of the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (Public Law 117–263) condemned Mr. Kara-Murza’s unjust detention, expressed solidarity with Mr. Kara-Murza, his family, and all individuals imprisoned in Russia for their beliefs, and urged the United States and other ally governments to work to secure the release of Mr. Kara-Murza and other citizens of the Russian Federation imprisoned for opposition to Vladimir Putin’s regime and his illegal war in Ukraine;

    Whereas, in April 2022, Vladimir Kara-Murza was presented the McCain Institute’s Courage and Leadership Award for his unwavering commitment to fundamental values and his acts of selfless courage which have inspired the world;

    Whereas, in October 2022, Mr. Kara-Murza was awarded the Vaclav Havel Prize honoring outstanding civil society action in defense of human rights;

    Whereas the late Senator John McCain said Mr. Kara-Murza “is a brave, outspoken, and relentless advocate for freedom and democracy in Russia” and introduced Mr. Kara-Murza as “a personal hero whose courage, selflessness and idealism I find awe-inspiring”;

    Whereas, in March 2023, the Department of the Treasury and the Department of State imposed Global Magnitsky and other targeted sanctions on six Russians involved in Mr. Kara-Murza’s ongoing arbitrary detention, recognized his role as “a major advocate for the adoption of Magnitsky-style sanctions authorities by the United States, Canada, European Union, and United Kingdom to target human rights abusers and corrupt actors in Russia,” and called for his immediate release;

    Whereas, in April 2023, 81 Members of Congress sent a letter to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken urging that Mr. Kara-Murza be designated under the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. 1741 et seq.) as “unlawfully and wrongfully detained”; and

    Whereas Mr. Kara-Murza remains a political prisoner and a victim of Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian state: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring),

That Congress—

(1) condemns in the strongest possible terms the unjust and arbitrary detention of Russian democratic opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza;

(2) calls on the Russian Federation to immediately release Mr. Kara-Murza and all other Russian opposition leaders who are detained as a result of their opposition to the Putin regime;

(3) calls on all Russian citizens to outright condemn Russia’s illegal and unjust invasion of Ukraine in the spirit of Mr. Kara-Murza’s defiant opposition stance in front of the Arizona House of Representatives in March 2022;

(4) expresses solidarity and calls for the release of all political prisoners in Russia and Belarus as well as Ukrainian citizens illegally held as prisoners by Putin’s regime in violation of the rule of law as a result of their support for liberal democratic values; and

(5) calls on the President of the United States and leaders from across the free world to work tirelessly for the release of political prisoners in Russia and increase support for those advocating for democracy in Russia as well as independent media and civil society which Mr. Kara-Murza has worked to further.

Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring),

That Congress—

(1) condemns in the strongest possible terms the unjust and arbitrary detention of Russian democratic opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza;

(2) calls on the Russian Federation to immediately release Mr. Kara-Murza and all other Russian opposition leaders, including Alexei Navalny, who are detained as a result of their opposition to the Putin regime;

(3) calls on all Russian citizens to outright condemn Russia’s illegal and unjust invasion of Ukraine in the spirit of Mr. Kara-Murza’s defiant stance in front of the Arizona House of Representatives in March 2022;

(4) expresses solidarity with and calls for the release of all political prisoners in Russia and Belarus, as well as Ukrainian citizens illegally held as prisoners by Putin’s regime in violation of the rule of law as a result of their support for liberal democratic values; and

(5) calls on the President of the United States and leaders from across the free world to work tirelessly for the release of political prisoners in Russia and increase support for those advocating for democracy in Russia, as well as independent media and civil society which Mr. Kara-Murza has worked to further.

Calendar No. 52

118th CONGRESS
     1st Session
S. CON. RES. 7
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Condemning Russia’s unjust and arbitrary detention of Russian opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza who has stood up in defense of democracy, the rule of law, and free and fair elections in Russia.
May 4, 2023
Reported with an amendment and an amendment to the preamble